Description

This book takes the reader with Gajapati Kapilendradev from the capital city of Cuttack to the forts along the way, staying overnight in the forts along the way, and telling all the successful stories of Gajapati’s life to the Odia fort on the banks of the Krishna river. It was the rule that one day, after descending from the throne, Gajapati would visit Vijayabahuda with six Mahapatras and on his last bed, would offer all his ornaments to Lord Jagannath and breathe his last there. This was also the result of Jagannath’s dream of choosing a son for the Gajapati family.

In the mid-fifteenth century, Odisha ruled with a huge empire crowned with victories, a treasury full of riches, a beautiful golden temple decorated with the Trinity and an ideal Odia life that attracted its neighbors. The well-being of the countless forts spread across his kingdom and the military activities were under the direct supervision of Gajapati. The golden age of Odisha came during the conquest of Gajapati Kapilendra Dev (1435-1466) when the borders of the state reached from the Ganges in the north to Kanyakumari in the south.

When the whole of India was overwhelmed by the invasion of the Javanese, that Gajapati was the almighty Hindu emperor of the fifteenth century. While the Gajapati army of the Odia Paikas continued to conquer the kingdom unhindered, the Odisha state was formed within the state, the Odia language flourished and spiritually Shri Jagannath appeared as the king of Odisha.